Woman who was convicted in 'huffing' crash that killed Highland Park girl is out of prison

Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune

Carly Rousso, who was convicted of aggravated DUI and reckless homicide after she struck and killed a 5-year-old on Labor Day 2012, was released from prison.

Carly Rousso, who was convicted of aggravated DUI and reckless homicide after she struck and killed a 5-year-old on Labor Day 2012, was released from prison. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)

Susan Berger and Yadira Sanchez OlsonChicago Tribune

A woman who was high on inhalants when she drove her car onto a Highland Park sidewalk, plowing into a family and killing a little girl, was freed from prison Friday after serving less than four years.

Carly Rousso, who was 18 when the “huffing” crash occurred on Labor Day 2012, was released from downstate Logan Correctional Center but will remain on parole for two more years, officials from the Illinois Department of Corrections confirmed.

Prosecutors said Rousso was inhaling fumes from a keyboard cleaning product behind the wheel of her father’s Lexus when she lost consciousness, went across several lanes of traffic in downtown Highland Park and struck a local woman who was walking with her three children.

Five-year-old Jaclyn Santos-Sacramento was killed in the crash, and other family members were injured.

Reached by the Tribune on Thursday, Jaclyn’s father, Tomas Santos De Jesus, said he’d been unaware of Rousso’s imminent release, but felt her punishment was unjust and too lenient. Rousso was sentenced to five years in prison after she was convicted of reckless homicide and aggravated DUI, but served about 3½ years before she was paroled Friday.

“It felt like they took an arm from us,” De Jesus, speaking in Spanish, said of his family’s ordeal. “We’re still not whole.”

He said his oldest child, now 12, continues to see a therapist to help cope with the trauma of the crash and losing a sister. The couple’s youngest child still receives physical therapy because of injuries suffered in the crash, De Jesus said.

In a statement read during Rousso’s sentencing hearing in Lake County court in 2014, Jaclyn’s mother, Modesta Sacramento Jimenez, asked the longest possible sentence of 14 years. Rousso’s defense attorneys argued for probation or a short prison term.

The highly publicized case drew attention not just for the spotlight it shed on the use of inhalants as a recreational drug.

The case also struck a chord because of the perceived disparity between Rousso, now 23, and the victim: Though both lived in Highland Park, Rousso was from a relatively prosperous family, was driving a luxury car at the time, was released from jail on a $500,000 bond shortly after her arrest and had a team of defense attorneys and experts at her trial. Jaclyn’s family was of more modest means and relied on donations to help pay for Jaclyn’s burial in her parents’ native Mexico.

The reality was more nuanced, in that Rousso herself was born to a Mexican-American mother but adopted by a white couple. Her lawyers also outlined the many traumas she had suffered in her life, including a sexual assault, bullying by peers and an attack by a dog that required hundreds of stitches and left scars on her face.

Experts testified that she suffered from depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, contributing to her drug use. Prior to her sentencing, she made appearances in front of groups of youths, using her story to serve as a deterrent to others to abuse drugs.

At her sentencing, Rousso offered a tearful apology, saying: “I wish more than anything it could be me instead of Jaclyn.”

But Jaclyn’s father said at the time that the crash “destroyed my life.” Her mother said in a statement that seeing her daughter killed in front of her “is something I cannot put into words.”

Jaclyn’s family settled a civil suit against Rousso for an undisclosed amount before her trial commenced.

Rousso’s father, David Rousso, declined to comment when reached Friday. Carly Rousso could not be reached following her release.